Deval Patrick headed to Washington for President Obama’s inaugural festivities

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick plans to travel to Washington from Saturday until Tuesday to attend inaugural events for President Obama, a personal friend for whom he campaigned.

Patrick’s precise schedule of events in the capital city remains in flux, spokesman Alex Goldstein said, but the governor will fly south Saturday afternoon and return after the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral on Tuesday.

Obama will be officially sworn in on Sunday during a private ceremony in the White House Blue Room. A public ceremony on the Capitol’s west front will be held at noon Monday, to avoid a conflict with religious ceremonies on Sunday. Monday also coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday.

Goldstein could not say if Patrick will attend the private swearing in, or any other events at the White House.

In January 2009, the governor and his wife, Diane, were invited back to the presidential mansion following a round of inaugural balls for late-night coffee and dessert with the president and first lady Michelle Obama.

Patrick and Obama shared Chicago roots and a Harvard Law School pedigree. The governor also was a surrogate campaigner as the president sought reelection last fall against Republican Mitt Romney, Patrick’s predecessor in the State House.